This letter appeared in The Irish News today Thursday June 25th 2020
THE killing of George Floyd is tearing apart the farcical myth of ‘land of the free”, of the land ‘of tolerance’ built supposedly by free, loving and equal migrants.
Despite the restrictions people locally and around the world taking to the streets have every right to be angry. This is not about George Floyd. It is about more than 200 years of oppression and savagery. Those who demand that protest remains “civic” and harmless, deploring “vandalism” in far more strident terms than they deplore racism, are nothing but hypocritical defenders of the status quo. The real vandals are those who think that carrying a blue uniform gives them a right to maim and torture at will. The system is the problem, not this or that police officer, not this or that president, not this or that party.
It requires deep transformation of the political institutions which are the product of legacy and brutality, segregation, exclusion, war, militarism, invasion and imperialism. The people on the streets today have the answers, while our ruling elites don’t even know the questions.
With many thanks to: The Irish News and Sean Matthews, Crumlin, Co Antrim for the original story
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